Need a three layer cake in the shape of a tea kettle (complete with cotton candy steam) for your grandmother’s 80th birthday and your baking skills began and ended with the penis shaped cake you made for your college roommate’s bachelorette party? Never fear; Chicago bakeries have you covered for your non-penis shaped, special event cake needs. Contact any of these great bakeries well ahead of your next event to describe your cake needs and......

Aiming to bring down Google Adwords (not likely) by keeping online ad revenue local (quite likely), SaveChicago.org is connecting businesses, consumers and the nonprofits they love, turning bargain hunting into desk-chair philanthropy. Chicago actor Steve Misetic started the site to keep ad dollars from “fleeing to Silicon Valley.” He splits the revenues from companies promoting “Hyper-Local Sales” with registered non-profits. Users signing up to find cheap wings, slacks, and books help funnel the ad sales......

Last week’s free McSkillet burritos spoiled us. All we had to do was purchase one little drink and we got a free breakfast? Suddenly paying for meals seemed like a sham. It got us thinking - where else can we score some free grub in this town? Well, seek and ye shall find: Happy Hour Munchies: Bust out of work right away so you can make the most of the free appetizers available Monday through......

If you're downtown and if you're near any of the Salad Creations locations at 60 E. Jackson, 555 W. Monroe or 500 W. Madison, and if you want to save some lunch money for Happy Hour this evening, then haul your ass down to the one closest to you now. As part of a healthy-eating campaign, Salad Creations is offering customers a free salad until closing today if you say these magic words: "Your mother......

We can't help thinking "superbug" makes it sound awesome, like a superhero, superfly, Super Mario, etc. Either way, There are two more cases of drug-resistant staph infections in Naperville. The City Council passed a new ordinance today that governs 4am bars: The bars are now required to have security cameras, better exterior lighting and "adequately trained" security guards/bouncers who attend CAPS meetings. Not a great day to be BP. Metra joins the CTA in......

Got a dollar? Spend it tonight at Steppenwolf's Garage Theater, where the Listening Room presents the 2007 TCF ShortDocs: Dollar Storeys. The two-headed beast child born of the union of The Dollar Store reading series and Third Coast Audio Festival, Dollar Storeys are sweet radio segments based on purchases made at dollar stores. Tonight's event features highlights from the contest, stories from Chicagoist's pal and Dollar Store mastermind Jonathan Messinger (here's some trivia: Jonathan was......

Chicagoist has long been a fan of Goose Island beers. Not only have they long been a staple Beer of the Week, but we're pretty sure our names are on a plaque somewhere on the pub walls as "Masters of Beer Appreciation," a feat accomplished in the hazy years before our baby. What we didn't know then was that we could have our kid and our beer, too. Turns out, Goose Island Brew Pub is......

Well, we've already tried to hip you to tonight's free show at The Bottle, put there are plenty of other concerts to spend your time (and money) at this week. Tonight Bright Eyes begins a two-night Chicago stand. Their latest, Cassadaga, landed kind of limply upon our ears, but we're glad that main-Eye Conor Oberst seems to have outgrown his "child prodigy" mantle and is easing gracefully into middle age. Of note to the Chicago......

It’s not the happy hour at the Hideout this time for the Siderunners, it’s a video premiere. Myke Adams, a local artist originally from New Orleans, directed and edited the video for “Sabbath Country Sabbath” off the Siderunners’ stripped down, live, acoustic album of the same name and, also, is the man behind the album art at the right. Monica Kendrick of the Chicago Reader had this to say way back when the album was......

This Friday night (parents, remember those?), with your cranky kid in tow, will you waste the evening pining over the date nights you wish you still had, or just go out anyway, dammit? When you opt for the latter, run to J. Alexander’s. This place is scrumptious food and considerate service in a chain restaurant’s clothing. Our family had a leisurely two-course meal in 40 minutes flat. We were home before our kid even began......

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "delirium" as a "temporary state of mental confusion and fluctuating consciousness resulting from high fever, intoxication, shock, or other causes. It is characterized by anxiety, disorientation, hallucinations, delusions, and incoherent speech." The folks at the the Brouwerij Huyghe, the oldest brewery in Belgium's Ghent region, take a distinct tongue-in-cheek approach to the definition, as anyone familiar with their popular Delirium Tremens can attest. While that beer is certainly worthy of......

We know it’s probably a dead horse by now, but we’re gonna get one or two more licks in on this. Tonight. Quencher’s. 6 p.m. Happy Hour. Live band karaoke. 10:30 p.m. As always, free drinks for the early birds while they last. We know there’s a rumor of a little snow tonight, but don’t let that stop you. Besides, if the storm is bad enough then you’ll have a good story for your grandkids.......

Everybody's coming to our Happy Hour tomorrow, right? Papa John’s Pizza kicked off its Superman Returns promotion in Metropolis, IL, yesterday, announcing that anyone who lives on a street called Lois Lane will get a free pizza, which is good news for a small block of folks in Phoenix, AZ, among others. Sylvester Stallone was in town last night for the premiere of his new “Rocky” film. He said the message of the film......

Now that we're over last week's self-inflicted tryptophan coma, we can return to the normal business at hand. With tomorrow's happy hour fast approaching, we would be remiss to not post a "BotW," since you readers do have a history of drinking an establishment out of certain beers when we throw a party. Thankfully, Quencher's has a glut of both domestic and imported beers for you to choose from. Your mission tomorrow, in addition to......

There are all kinds of ways to volunteer and support your causes. Some require that you walk a 5K. Many take time and dedication. Most are geared at raising money. So if you’re a little light on the time and effort, and walking just isn’t your thing, maybe you’d like to donate some cash to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) this Thursday and eat chocolate all night. As far as that whole community service......

Just a reminder that our next Happy Hour is this Thursday, November 30, starting at 6 p.m. at Quencher’s with live band karaoke from the Hootenanners at 10:30 p.m. If you’ve never been to one of our get-togethers before, this is our chance to get to know some of our readers and thank you for reading us day-in and day-out. As it’s now officially the holiday season, there’s plenty of reason to celebrate, so get......

Karaoke Revolution?...

Oprah urges each and every one of her viewers to “live your best life.” And whether she’s making like an angel or giving out free cars, she often helps to facilitate that in any way she can. But we’re pretty sure she’s not happy about people using her Oprahness to scam people out of money via e-mail phishing schemes. Illinois’ own angel Attorney General Lisa Madigan says not to fall for it. In other less......

It may be a “dead week” for the travel industry, but Chicagoist is livening things up next week with a Happy Hour for you, our readers, featuring after-work cocktails and live band karaoke from the Hootenanners. With a slate of new writers, a redesigned site and the bracing cold of winter on its way, we’ve got a lot to celebrate. Our Happy Hours are a chance for us to get to know you, you to......

In case you missed it, there was an election yesterday. Chicagoist hopes you got out and voted. And after we rocked the vote, we rocked the Daily Bar & Grill at a special election night happy hour; you should have been there. That said, it was an exciting day: The Democrats have taken the House, but the Senate is still a toss-up. And yes, that means that Nancy Pelosi will be the new Speaker of......

The Chicagoist offices are alive with the sounds of schadenfreude as we turn our attention to television’s biggest losers. The first bit of news that had us chortling with glee was the mercy killing of that ersatz-Chicago Fox sitcom “Happy Hour,” which we ranted about last week and has been cancelled. Technically it’s only been put on “hiatus,” so it’s more life support than euthanasia. But we all know what that means. It’s the approximate......

Apparently, Maureen Ryan isn't the only one who's hating on "Happy Hour," the new Chicago-set sitcom. If you check out TV Death Watch '06 you’ll find that, at the moment, it's the one new show everyone’s betting will get axed the fastest. Having just watched the 2nd episode online we’re eagerly rooting for its demise. Does TV really need another witless show with main characters who are either bland or just plain annoying? It’s the......

Mo Ryan, the Trib's genius TV critic and FOC*, poses an excellent question, one for the ages: "Why [have] some of the lamest sitcoms ever been set in Chicago?" If word on the latest scourge released by the overlords at Fox is true, tonight's debut of "Happy Hour" will do nothing to dispel the notion that if you need an urban setting for a manufactured, trite, overly packaged sitcom, then Chicago is the city for......

It was just another Friday happy hour at the Hideout. Well, not including the BBQ going on and the fact that there just seemed to be more people arriving than normal for a show that wasn’t supposed to start until 10:30 pm. Sure, there was to be a 9:30 showing of George Bush being eaten by rats, but what did that really mean? After the sound check, we dutifully made our way to the back......

Few artists inspire as much delight and wrath from even the most casual art observer as Andy Warhol. You love/hate how he made accessible/denigrated his work by putting it on soup cans, how his 8-hour shot of the Empire State Building blew your mind/messed with your mind, how he took silver balloons and made them art, how he captured Marilyn Monroe’s essence over and over again. Starting this weekend, the MCA exhibits many shades......

Instead of buying you drinks at our next happy hour, we're going to spend our meager earnings on these so that we can have go cart races, Aladdin-style! It seems like every week there's some major news coming out of Cook County jail. People escaping, fighting, etc. This weekend 14 people were injured in a big ol' brawl. So, we sorta get tofurkey (yeh, right!) but do we really need faux caviar? Another little......

With sushi restaurants popping up almost as fast as Starbucks, finding a new favorite can be overwhelming. Chicagoist decided to follow in Gold Coast footsteps and took the chic route. Even narrowing it down by neighborhood, we had a selection of trendy downtown sushi spots. Smack in the middle of one of Chicago’s most glittery neighborhoods, RA was our chosen destination. Located at 1139 N. State, RA does not take reservations, so Chicagoist showed up......

We’ve been talking about it for weeks now and it’s finally here. Tonight is our first ever Ctrl-Alt-Rock show and we’re as excited as a puppy you’ve brought home from the pet store (though we’ve managed to not pee on the floor…so far). Three of our favorite bands will rock Schuba’s tonight: The Assembly, May Or May Not and Alphabet. To get you ready for tonight, we're posting a mix of tracks from each of......

If you're wondering where we are this morning, the answers are "hung over" and "sleeping". A sign of a great happy hour last night. Chicagoist would like to thank everyone who came out last night and made it a great time! We have the coolest readers ever! And none of you threatened Sam's life, which is a bonus in our book. Thanks to everyone for reading, supporting and commenting on Chicagoist. We couldn't do......

As we quietly nurse away the after-effects of last night’s Happy Hour, it seems appropriate that we discuss a film about the dangers of alcoholism. Duane Hopwoood stars Northwestern grad and Lookingglass Theatre gadfly David Schwimmer as a man who fights to keep his life and family together as he struggles with his addiction to booze. The Trib’s Michael Wilmington draws the inevitable comparison to The Weather Man in a 2 ½ star review while......